stilldontgotit | 48 - voice/action;

Heh. The end of the year. Time sure flies, huh? This marks the third winter I've spent holed up in this place. Now, I could get all nostalgic about how things changed, but frankly? I'm sure you guys are tired of that by now.

There's... something else on my mind, though. Something I've thought about for a while, about the way this place works.

[He pauses for a few seconds, mulling over how to properly phrase this...]

Anyway, I'm sure most of you guys are familiar with the way people vanish out of the blue just like I'm sure you're used to people showing up without a single memory of their time before. Assuming they'd been here, anyway. But sometimes people come back with memories fully intact or those memories return after a quick reminder. I've even seen a few cases of somebody coming back as a blank slate and showing up again later with memories from a visit before the last.

Maybe I'm over thinking it, but have you guys ever thought that maybe the people who show up without memories might be different versions of someone rather than the same person with those memories wiped out? Now, I'm not saying people actually remember this place back home; I've gone back twice and I sure didn't. And, sure, timelines probably factor into it, but who's to say there can't be, say... twin versions of the same world?

Just some food for thought, I guess.

[Okay, and with that silliness out of the way, Riku can be seen in a few different places. First, there's the Community Housing 1 building, where he can be found feeding a big ol' chocolate cake and some colorful ice cream to his Dream Eater. Upon eating the goods, his bat sparkles and glows. Feel free to boggle at this.

Outside, he can be found strolling along in the snow for a bit. Aftr a while, however, he gives into some silly urges. What kind of silly urges, you ask? Snowballs, of course. He won't be outright malicious, but if he sees any familiar faces he miiight just toss a little snow their way. After all, it's been far too long since he's done something silly like that.

Otherwise, he can be seen practicing some magic out by the forest. And by magic I of course mean summoning gigantic, colorful balloons that explode. What's all that about?]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

But you can't rely on this place to distinguish two worlds that, for all intents and purposes, are cut off from knowing this place exists. If you can't tell that they're there, then do the differences even matter? For all their individuality, they would come here being the same.

Guess so. Still, even if what you say is true, it's not like it bothers me. I'm me, and whether that means I'm unique or not isn't the important part.

Then I wouldn't say you're like most others. Someone from my world returned to Luceti recently, and he refuses to believe that it could be he's from a different world than the "him" that was here a year ago.

[His mind jumped to Sora. Welp.]

I think it's just easier for some people to think that way. And maybe I would've been disturbed by the idea at one point, but by now nothing'd surprise me.

Being here for a while tends to do that, regardless of your original outlook.

Still, I'd argue that it's actually counterproductive to deny that that might be the case. If you simply don't have the memories, barring some helpful intervention from our captors, you never will. You'll never be the same person as the you that was here before you. Trying to be that person will only hurt you and those around you in the end.

I don't think it's impossible to rebuild those friendships and get somewhere close to where they used to be, but it's definitely never gonna be the same. But that doesn't have to be a bad thing. Trying to fill someone else's shoes puts too much weight on your shoulders; it's better to just take things as they come.

"Rebuild" is the wrong word, I'd say. It's more like... reshaping. The other person still remembers those interactions, so they haven't disappeared. But now they need to frame their perceptions around a new person. When you reshape something, you don't expect it to turn out the way it was before, even though you start with the same base. It's the same with people.

Huh, never thought about it that way, but you do have a point. It's not like that friendship's necessarily broken; you're just stuck working off of a blank slate.

It's only as broken as the one holding the memories believes. If they consider it losing a friendship and they let that crush them, in the end, that's on them.

If anything, it's this place that's at fault. Memories do play an important part in friendships, and they're definitely a large part of who we are, but even if someone forgets, it's not like they're pulling a 180. If you liked them for who they were before, why let that change?

Some people don't have the heart to start over. It can be hard to acknowledge that all those memories the person had of you have disappeared.

True. Guess I'm just so used to it that it doesn't always cross my mind. Happens when you spend years here.

It takes time and exposure to get used to it. Even if you spend a long time here, if you're lucky enough to surround yourself with others who are stuck here for extended periods, you won't adjust. That's how human nature works.

True. And there are people here who stick with what's familiar or comfortable to them.

But even the ones who do stay for years could still vanish any time.

Such is the unpredictability of this place. No matter what you do, you really can't get used to it. There's just too much that changes.

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